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Warlock
This article is a description of the character class '''Warlock'. For a description of the role of Warlocks within the lore of Warcraft, see Warlock (lore). ''For related articles, see Category:Warlocks. Introduction Although many that consort with demons fall to darkness, the '''Warlock' class manages to bend demonic forces to its will without succumbing to pure evil. These spellcasters can summon demons to serve them, and they also cast many painful spells that slowly eat at the life of enemies. Warlocks are typically weak physically, but they compensate for this deficiency with their potent array of spells and their demonic pets. History Warlocks were Mages from the Kirin Tor that delved too deeply into the roots of demonic power and were removed from the organization. Consumed by a lust for dark knowledge, they've tapped into chaotic magic from beyond the world. The Burning Legion now feeds them its powers, allowing them to channel destructive energies and call upon the powerful emissaries of their demon masters. In most societies, the warlocks live on the fringe of civilization, tolerated but not trusted. Most people see warlock magic as a vain attempt at gaining power. During the First and Second wars, the formerly shamanistic orcs were transformed into a warlike juggernaut by their shaman-turned-warlock leaders. The Horde soon added warlocks in various forms to their armies, and orcish and ogre warlocks came to be feared within the ranks of the Alliance. In addition to the orcish warlocks, many humans and gnomes are warlocks too. These were mages that were drawn by the lure of demonic power and broke the boundaries of acceptable magical study. Many of the human warlocks pledged their lives and services to the Lich King just prior to the invasion of his undead Scourge. In the Lich King's service many of these warlocks became skilled necromancers. In addition, the Lich King granted many of his undead servants limited warlock abilities as well. When the portal to the Twisting Nether was finally opened and the demons began pouring through, it seemed that the heyday of the warlocks was at hand. However, against impossible odds, the orcs, humans and night elves defeated the Legion at Mount Hyjal in distant Kalimdor. A short time following this battle, a night elf named Illidan cast a mighty spell intended to melt the polar icecap of Northrend. The spell was interrupted, but the Frozen Throne of the Lich King was significantly damaged. The Lich King gradually lost control over a good portion of his servants. These Forsaken, as they began to call themselves, found that, while still undead, they had had their spirits returned to their bodies regaining their free will. Consequently, many of the Forsaken embraced their demonic tendancies and became warlocks. Forsaken society is perhaps the only one in which the warlocks are accepted as legitimate magic users. Overview thumb|right|An Orc Warlock is applying demon skin. At low levels, Warlocks rely primarily on pets and Damage over Time (DoT) spells to deal out pain to their enemies. They hold the power to lay various Curses on their enemies which have varying weakening or damaging effects, as well as debuff the enemy with a number of other spells. At higher levels, a significant percentage of Warlock PvE damage comes from chain-casting Shadow Bolt. Particularly in 40-person raids, the 16-debuff limit prevents full use of a Warlock's DoTs and debuffs, though Mages in particular make great use of Curse of Elements, which increases damage taken by fire and frost based attacks. As Warlocks advance in level, they gain some powerful Area of Effect (AoE) spells, which deal out damage to all enemies within a range, sometimes including the Warlock who casts the spell. These spells are channeled, which makes them almost useless for leveling or farming. In 40-person raids, however, these make up a vital part of the raid's damage. The Warlock can learn to summon magical mounts. All other clases, except Paladins, must purchase their own mounts. Races The following races can play a Warlock: * Alliance ** Gnomes ** Humans * Horde ** Blood Elves (Blood Elves are not playable until the release of the 'The Burning Crusade' expansion) ** Orcs ** Undead Weapons & Armor Warlocks can wear Cloth Armor only, and can initially use Daggers and Unarmed combat in battle. They can also use Wands for ranged combat, and equip special Orbs in their off-hand to enhance various skills. They can train at a weapon master for to gain the ability to use Swords and Staves. More information regarding Warlock-specific armor can be found at Warlock Sets. Soul Shards A large number of the Warlock's skills and spells rely on the reagent known as Soul Shards. Soul Shards are obtained by using the Drain Soul spell as an enemy is dying. Soul Shards will go into your inventory (and do not stack) for future use in spells. Be sure to always have a steady supply of Soul Shards at your disposal! A good recommendation to follow is to try to replace any Soul Shards you use immediately afterwards. It is important to note that you can only obtain a Soul Shard from an experience-giving enemy. Any enemy more than 20% levels below you (e.g.: if you are level 60, the enemy must be at least level 48) will not give experience, even if they are considered 'elite'. This means you may find yourself in an area, such as an instance, full of powerful elite enemies, none of whom will surrender a soul shard for you. Always come prepared! Heavy Shard Usage ;Heavy Shard Usage by Talent Spec and Role Destruction Warlocks use Shadowburn (an 11-point Destruction talent), an instant-cast DD spell that consumes a Soul Shard when cast. If the target dies within 5 seconds, and gives experience, the caster gains a replacement Soul Shard. Demonology Warlocks tend to use slightly more Soul Shards for summoning demons than other warlocks, as they tend to summon more frequently, or use Enslave Demon more often. Also, with Improved Stone talents, Demonology Warlocks may be more apt to use Spellstones and Firestones. Raiding Warlocks use Soul Shards to create Healthstones for their raid members, and to summon other raid members with Ritual of Summoning. Shard Bags Players can use special containers that carry only Soul Shards. Their benefit is that they are usually larger than other generic containers, and they automatically sort all incoming Soul Shards to that bag. Also, on the container bar, the bag icon has the number of shards remaining displayed on top of it. See Shard Bags for more information. Abilities Find detailed information about the warlock's various abilities on the Warlock Spells page. Pets Warlocks can summon a variety of pets, each exhibiting different skill sets which are useful in different situations. *Imp (Level Obtained: 1) : The Imp's main role is a support pet, designed to do additional damage alongside the caster via its Firebolt attack. The Imp is very fragile and will die very quickly if attacked, but it requires no Soul Shard to summon, and is often used to farm new Soul Shards when you run out and cannot summon a different pet. Other Imp abilities include Phase Shift (allowing the Imp to shift out of phase and cannot be targetted by enemies), Blood Pact, a powerful stamina buff for everyone in your party, and Fire Shield, a Thorns-like damage shield which he will cast on you and your groupmates that enter combat. With the Improved Imp and Improved Firebolt talents, the Imp is the most damaging pet in the warlock's arsenal (with the notable exceptions of the Infernal and Doomguard); at least until he runs out of mana. At the moment however the second point in improved firebolt is broken due to a flaw in game mechanics. *Voidwalker (Level Obtained: 10, Undead, Orc, Gnome, Human) : This demon deals little damage, but has very good armor and good hit points. The Voidwalker's main ability, Torment is a taunt that causes enemies to lose focus of the warlock and instead attack the Voidwalker. There is also a PBAOE version of Torment called Suffering. This makes for an excellent soloing pet, and is also great for farming additional Soul Shards. Additional Voidwalker spells include Sacrifice, which kills your Voidwalker but creates a 30-second damage absorption shield for the warlock, and Consume Shadows which is an out of combat self-heal for the Voidwalker. *Succubus (Level Obtained: 20, Undead, Orc, Alliance) : The Succubus is replete with spells that deal damage and mesmerize the enemy in different ways. Her first ability, Lash of Pain, is a direct-damage, low-mana cast that deals shadow damage to her target. Other spells include Soothing Kiss, which will reduce threat (the reverse of the Voidwalker's Torment ability) and Seduction, which mesmerizes a target for 15 seconds (or until attacked). The Succubus also has a self-only Lesser Invisibility spell. Succubus deals the most damage of all the basic pets, without talent upgrades. : Quest: Hearts of the pure ( undead ) *Felhunter (Level Obtained: 30, Horde, Alliance) : The Felhunter is your anti-caster pet. Where the Succubus deals lots of melee damage, the Voidwalker is a great tank and the Imp deals lots of ranged damage, the Felhunter has high magic resist and has abilities to counterspell (Spell Lock), remove buffs from enemies and remove debuffs from friendlies (Devour Magic). The Warlock employing a meleeing Felhunter can also use Tainted Blood to reduce the Attack power of enemies when they land hits. *Infernal (Level Obtained: 50, from Grimoire of Inferno or Kroshius' Infernal Core) : While it deals better melee damage than the Succubus, has higher HP, fire immunity, and more AC than a Voidwalker, it needs to be enslaved (with the Enslave Demon spell). This demon can break loose unexpectedly, causing it to turn on its former master. It can be enslaved again, but Enslave is subject to diminishing returns -- the duration decreases with each successive casting on the same demon. The Infernal deals strictly in melee damage, combined with an immolation effect that hurts all enemies nearby. It also requires an Infernal Stone to summon. *Doomguard (Level Obtained: 60, from Curse of Doom or Ritual of Doom) : The Doomguard is the most powerful Warlock pet. It has the highest HP and AC, as well as having Rain of Fire, Dispel, Cripple and Warstomp. A properly used Doomguard can take out entire camps of enemies at a time before perishing. However, like the Infernal, it requires Enslave Demon to be cast on it to stay within the Warlock's control. It can be re-enslaved after but the Enslave's duration diminishes after each casting. Curse of Doom has about a 10% chance of summoning a Doomguard if it deals the killing damage. Ritual of Doom will summon a Doomguard 100% of the time, but requires the assistance of your party, and will kill one member of your group. That one party member could be you. Thus unleashing an angry Doomguard on your group mates with no one to enslave it unless another Warlock is in your group. Ritual of Doom requires a Demonic Figurine reagent. Mounts *Felsteed (Level Obtained: 40, from Strahad Farsan in Ratchet) : The Felsteed is the 'free mount' that Warlocks receive at level 40. Other than Paladins, all other classes must pay for a mount and for training to ride it (these prices can be lowered by being Honored with the mount's city and by obtaining the Sergeant rank). This is a great help since Warlocks must purchase spells for their summoned pets as well. *Dreadsteed (Level Obtained: 60, from Mor'zul Bloodbringer in Burning Steppes near the Altar of Storms) : The Dreadsteed is the Warlock Epic level 60 mount. This pet is obtained though a long quest line. It is not free, but it is still available to Warlocks at a significant discount compared to other classes ( , compared to ~ for everyone else). This cost can be further reduced by another if you have another warlock who already has the materials. Direct Damage Spells The Warlock's direct damage spells are either Shadow or Fire based. While a Warlock's direct damage does not compare to the Mage, when coupled with their DoTs and a pet they can achieve a strong, steady DPS. *Shadow Bolt *Searing Pain *Soul Fire *Death Coil *Rain of Fire *Hellfire *Conflagrate (talent) *Shadowburn (talent) Curses The Warlock has available variety of curses, but only one can be cast upon an enemy at a given time. This creates the need for determining an appropriate Curse in a given situation. Curses include strength-draining, damage-over-time, resistance depletion, and others. *Curse of Weakness *Curse of Agony *Curse of Recklessness *Curse of Tongues *Curse of the Elements *Curse of Shadow *Curse of Doom *Curse of Exhaustion (Talent) Conjured Items Another powerful ability of the Warlock is to create varying Stones from Soul Shards. Certain stones are wielded in the off-hand, and enhance damage, or remove negative spell effects. All conjured items disappear 15 minutes after logging off. *Create Healthstone - Creates a stone that will heal damage. It comes in various strengths and is tradable. It is very similar to a health potion, but on a separate timer. *Create Soulstone - Creates a stone that allows you to insure someone's soul for 30 minutes. That person can self resurrect if they died while the soulstone was active. *Create Firestone - Creates a non-tradable off-hand item which adds Fire damage to your wielded weapon. *Create Spellstone - Creates a non-tradable stone that when equipped and used, will absorb magical damage and remove all magic effects -- good and bad. While equipped, it will increase the warlock's spell crit chance. Healing While a Warlock is by no means a healer, they do have some limited ability to heal themselves, their pet and others while in combat and even resurrect. To heal themselves there are Drain Life, Siphon Life (talent) and Death Coil which, conveniently, also damage the target. There is also the Demonic Sacrifice (talent in the Demonology talent tree) that restores some health continuously. To heal others (or himself), a Warlock can create a Healthstone and hand it to another member of their party. These can be improved through talents. To heal their pet they have Health Funnel. This can be improved through talents. To resurrect a target a Warlock may use a Soulstone on the target before it dies (30 minutes Buff duration and Cooldown), allowing it to resurrect on death. Miscellany The Warlock has other valuable spells at their disposal: *Fear - sends an enemy fleeing for a period of time. *Howl of Terror - sends enemies around you fleeing in terror for a period of time. *Banish - causes an demon or element from attack and immuned to all damage. Can also be used in PvP against enemy demons and players. *Ritual of Summoning - a ritual requiring 2 other party members which allows you to summon another party member to your location. *Eye of Kilrogg - a fragile but speedy eye that allows you to scout out dangerous areas from a safe distance. *Unending Breath - allows a target to breath underwater *Detect Greater Invisibility - allows a target to see invisible units, has three "ranks" lesser/normal/greater. *Sense Demons - shows demons on the minimap. Talents *Demonology - Demonology talents improve the effect of your Stones, as well as the abilities of your pets, it also dramatically increases your ability to survive. *Affliction - Affliction talents enhance the effects of the Warlock's various Curses. *Destruction - Destruction talents add to the damage done by the Warlock's direct damage spells and buffs fire spells above all, for this reason some warlocks stop investing points once they have the talent known as Ruin. Talent builders can be found at Official Blizzard site, Panda Hideout, WoW Vault, ThottBot, Merciless Talent Calculator. See the Warlock Talents page for detailed information and talent trees. End-Game Expectations DPS, Soulstones, Pet Tanking, is there anything that Warlocks can't do? You are a jack of all trades, but mostly DPS is your specialty. Make good use of your Soul Shards, be prepared to Summon late comers, and give out some of that soul candy you call Healthstones. Be prepared to banish a lot of elementals, since you're the only form of Crowd Control in Molten Core. Also, don't forget to Soulstone the MT or Healers, it may make the difference in whether you live or wipe. When doing 40-man high level instances, the Warlocks normally assign the responisibility of curses among each other. Effective use of applying those curses are usually expected. Macros There are a couple of nifty macros tailored for Warlocks. Addons Many warlock addons used to revolve around sorting shards however as of patch 1.9 this functionality was intergrated into soul shard bags * Servitude Ressurection was a very good Pet Control Plugin. It had many features for controlling the autocast of your Felhunter, Voidwalker, Succubus or Imp. The addon has however been discontinued and over the patches some of its functionality has been broken. You can get it here. * Healthstone Trader is designed to automate the process of handing out healthstones by warlocks, and can be initiated by the user or a whisper, this can be very useful in raids where large amounts of healthstones may need to be handed out. It's various features can be trigged by either a hotkey or through a whisper. You can get it here * RaidSummon will queue group/raidmembers that request to be summoned (by whispering you a specific keyword) and notify the warlock with an audio signal and a text message. Casting "Ritual of Summoning" will then summon the first player in the queue and - if the ritual succeeded (RaidSummon detects failures) - remove him from the list. Casting again will summon the next player and so on. Additionally, using the "Ritual of Summoning" action while targetting a raid/group-member will perform a normal ritual of summoning on him - preferring the target over already queued raid/group-members. You can get it here * Necrosis LdC is based on Necrosis 1 by infernal. It is described by it's author as "a mod to help Warlocks managing their stones, shards and demon summoning. No more, but no less..." It is a very useful addon and perhaps the most widely used of the Warlock specific addons. Get it here. * Lockbox is an intelligent mod to automate a large portion of PvE grinding. It's primary purpose is to simplify grinding while you are levelling your warlock up to end-game content. It can cast appropriate curses, DoT's and drains, will manage your soulstones (keeping you topped off to a set number and only casting Drain Soul when you will get a stone from the target), recalls runners with Curse of Recklessness, ensures Armor/Skin is up and sends in your pet. Get it here. See Also See Starting a Warlock for some advice when starting out. See the Warlock Category for further information on the Warlock class, including spells. Some good info at the official WoW forums: * Warlock FAQ ---- Category:Classes Category:Warlocks Category:Gnomes Category:Humans Category:Orcs Category:Forsaken Category:Horde classes Category:Alliance classes